Doctoral supervision, workplace research and changing pedagogic practices

Abstract

The pressures of new agendas, new students and new degrees are challenging traditional pedagogical frameworks in doctoral education. This article draws on an ethnographic study that examined the changing nature of doctoral supervision and the pedagogic practices that support the doctoral endeavour in programs that explicitly link research with workplace practice. While supervisors and students struggled with uncertainty and confusion, partly due to disjunction in expectations, the creative tensions of doctoral research and the relatively new research territory of the programs, the study found that more flexible processes were emerging in doctoral education. This article examines the increasing move, through the use of research seminars, to more collective models of supervision and collaborative knowledge sharing environments. It is argued that this powerful pedagogic practice, which is often overlooked in the focus on the dyadic relationship of supervision, developed the research capacity of students and provided a forum for imaginative explorations about researching practice.